Can't program skip forward 30 seconds in my Harmony Elite remote

[sward 28]

I am unable to program my Harmony Elite universal remote to make Emby Theater skip forward 30 sec or backwards 10 sec. Emby Theater's default commands for skipping forward/backwards are:

• control-shift-f: skip forward
• control-shift-b: skip backward

But unfortunately these key combinations aren't available in the Logitech Harmony Elite configuration app (see attached pic). To make matters worse Harmony Elite also doesn't include the default Windows key combinations for skipping forward/backward which are "Ctrl + DirectionRight" and "Ctrl + DirectionLeft" respectively, which is too bad since these seem to work with Emby Theater (I tested with a wireless keyboard).

The VLC player makes it possible to create your own key combinations (see attached pic) for a wide variety of actions. Would it be possible to do something similar with Emby Theater? As a quick fix could you maybe add some key combinations to Emby Theater that are available in Harmony Elite, or maybe I'm just missing something obvious that would enable me to skip forward/backward with the existing app? Please help!

 

 

[pmac 143]

I've just noticed fairly recently that these buttons stopped working on my Harmony remote as well. They used to work though.

Did the commands change recently or something?

Edited October 6, 2024 by pmac

[sward 28]

I think some recent Windows update changed these key combinations.

[sward 28]

I researched this a bit more and found that both Windows and Emby Theater support DirectionRight for skip forward 30 sec, and DirectionLeft for skip backward 10 sec, both of which are easy enough to program in a Harmony Elite remote. Everything is working again now!

[sward 28]

Got another update: although those direction keys work in the Windows Emby Theater app, they don't work in the Android Emby app which we sometimes use. The good news is that the direction left & right buttons don't seem to be used for anything once the Android Emby app is showing video in full screen, so it should be possible to add support for skipping forward/backward with the DirectionRight  and DirectionLeft keys in some future release of the Android Emby app. I'm hoping the Emby developers are on-board with this idea!

[pmac 143]

That's helpful to know, at least I can remap my skip forward/back buttons now.

It would be nice to be able to long press them for next/previous chapter like I had in the past. Right now the chapter controls seem to actually skip to next/previous episode when watching TV series, rather than chapters.

[pmac 143]

I'm assuming most (all?) of these changes are due to the fact that everything seems to cater strictly to the majority that use super simple remotes, like those for Firesticks and Roku devices. People that use remotes such as Harmony are kind of left in the dust. This has been the way for a while I think, as I've noticed in the past with certain UI changes, live TV experience, etc. If you can't do it with a 7-button remote, it's not worth doing. 

[sward 28]

Update: after using the direction keys for about a week, I noticed that they only work for that first skip forward or backward in the Windows Emby Theater app. After that I'm back to using my mouse to continue skipping forward/backward. Would be nice if Emby Theater could better support this functionality or make it possible to create your own key combinations a la VLC.